 | Vital village flood defences inspected |
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Vital village flood defences inspected
Conservative Spokesman for Taunton, Mark Formosa has been learning about how two former Royal Navy aircraft carrier diesel engines now form an important part of vital flood defences to protect North Curry and other nearby communities.
Mark’s visit to the Environment Agency’s pumping station at Curry Moor also threw up a surprise for him, as he discovered an old classmate helps to operate the pumps.
John Buttivant, who is an Environment Agency team leader, went to school in Cornwall with Mark, and his father was the school’s deputy headmaster and lived in the village where Mark’s mother had a business.
Mr Buttivant and Environment Agency colleague John Rowlands gave Mark a tour of the pumping station, which is one of 21 the agency operates on the Somerset Levels as well as a network of hundreds of sluices.
Without the pumps powered by the two diesel engines, North Curry – which was Taunton Deane’ first designated conservation area – and parts of the Levels would be liable to frequent flooding.
The Somerset Levels cover nearly 150,000 acres and as well as being the most important remaining lowland wet grassland in England, the area is internationally recognised as a site of ecological importance.
The two diesel engines at Curry Moor, which staff have named ‘Peach’ and ‘Blossom’, have been in operation for many decades and help to manage both winter water levels, in the face of high tides and flood flows, and summer levels for irrigation and wet fences for livestock.
ENDS
Contact Mark: 07876 477440
 
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